Author: Michelle's Site

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What Person Are You?

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I pulled out my novel to continue making revisions and remembered that I have two different versions.  I originally wrote the story in first person.  Based on advice from a former editor, I have several chapters written in third person.  So, I had to stop and ask myself:  What Person Am I?

The majority of the things I write are in first person.  Like 99%.  I am most comfortable with this point of view.  Two of my favorite authors, Jodi Picoult and Eric Jerome Dickey, use this point of view.  I read everything they write and study their forms.

But I enjoy the third person point of view as well.  I just don’t feel like it is my strength.  It feels like forcing a right-handed person (me) to only write with their left.  Sure you can read it but it’s not as pretty.

Do you have a preference?  What’s your favorite point of view?  First person or third person?

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Mental Toughness

Taken outside Bond 45 @ Potomac National Harbor
Taken outside Bond 45 @ Potomac National Harbor

I’ve been exercising for eight months and I have a consistent routine.  If I have to miss a session because of a conflict (work, family, illness, etc.) I obsess over what I am missing.

I wish I could say the same about my writing.  I know I should write something daily.  I have a novel to edit, several short stories in various stages on completion and this blog.  But  when I fail to take advantage of writing time, I can easily shrug it off with the promise to write tomorrow.  I’ve been waiting on tomorrow for almost a year now.

I’ve been doing some soul-searching (again).  Really trying to get to source of my inability to completely pursue a dream I know that I want.  I’ve been writing since grade school.  I would like to make it my career.  All I have to do is put pen to paper, edit, revise and edit some more.  I need to send my work out into the world.

What is stopping me you may ask.  (Nosy, that.)  I keep coming back to one world.  Fear.  But it’s not fear of failure that is paralyzing.  It is fear of success.

As humans, we operate on a set routine.  We take comfort in the familiar.  Venturing off a planned and previously executed course is uncomfortable.  The “unknown” and whatnot.  Yet people take that step toward their goals everyday.  They push past the discomfort and leap without fear.  That’s what I have to do.  Exercise some mental toughness and do something different.

My  body has gotten stronger due to my work in the gym.  Now I have to summon the mental toughness to blast through the fear and write.  Today is a good start.

 

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Back to School – Let’s Get It Started

Back to it .........

 

It’s that time of year again.  Time to get those kids out of the house and back into the classroom.  Parents everywhere, rejoice.

This year is special for me because I have a Senior and a Freshman in high school this year.  Two  milestone moments.  A beginning and an end.

This should be fun!

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Vacations are Fun……The Week After Vacation is Brutal

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Hubby and I spent the Fourth of July week in Vegas.  We walked up and down the Strip in 120 degree weather.  We took a chance in various casinos.  We went shopping at the outlet.  We took in the Michael Jackson One Cirque Du Soleil show (Seriously, go see this show.  It is so good!).  We watched the Hitsville show at Planet Hollywood.  We even got drunk one night in the Paris hotel.  We enjoyed several excellent meals.  In short, we had fun.

The next week I returned to the real world.  And I was miserable.  Work was piled up on my desk.  I actually had to get up before noon.  The daily routine was back in effect.  It was a struggle but somehow I made it through the week after vacation.

I hope this week is better.

What are your vacation plans this year?  Have you gone somewhere only to return to the “real” world of work?

Answers to the “Where Am I?” posts:

1. The Las Vegas strip

2.  Inside the Michael Jackson One Theatre at Mandalay Bay.

3.  Aria Hotel and Casino

 

 

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Zimmerman Verdict Is the Status Quo, But You Are Not – The Snob Blog – Danielle Beltons The Black Snob

This article says everything I am feeling right now.

 

Zimmerman Verdict Is the Status Quo, But You Are Not – The Snob Blog – Danielle Beltons The Black Snob.

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Waiting Up

I just realized that being a parent of a teenager and a newborn baby have a lot in common. Lack of sleep.

A baby requires constant feeding and attention. A teenager is more independent but worry their parent in other ways. Every time my daughter leaves the house in hercar I can’t rest until she comes back.

I need some sleep.